A Trip to Our River

Return to Scotland Pilgrimage Page

Return to William Loren (Bill) Liddell's Pilgrimage

A Trip to Our River

d >> Team Liddell et al << c

No Longer Separated by Oceans and Centuries

A Hasty Trip to the Edge

of Liddesdale and Its River

By William Loren (Bill) Liddell

and Daughter Mylia

May 2000

My daughter Mylia and I were visiting London in late May 2000 and had planned a one day trip to Scotland to find the River Liddel. Of course we should have planned at least a two-day trip, for we did not get to do as much exploring as we would have liked.

We had to get up early on June 1, 200o to make our train connection to Newcastle England. It was a strange setup that if you did not get on the train at the time specified on your ticket, the ride was null and void. The same applied to our return trip so getting on the train on time was mandatory. It was a long ride north and we were happy that we had made our connection.

On arriving in Newcastle, we rented a car and then motored west along Hadrian’s Wall on Road A-69, toward Carlisle. We traveled North out of Carlisle on Road A-7 to a small village called Canobie, Scotland. It was lunch time so we found a quaint little Inn and stopped there to eat. After lunch the inn keeper directed us to a road that would cross over the River just a few kilometers away. It was quite a lonely spot and the river at that point was not very wide as you can see by the pictures that we took while standing on the bridge.

We took a picture of a sign which read Welcome to Scotland, so we assumed that on the other side of the bridge you were in England. The picture of another sign indicates that the land behind it was Liddel Valley Estates and that it was private property. We then drove up the road to a bed and breakfast to inquire about the sign and to see if they could direct us to the owners. However they had no knowledge of the owners. We went back to the bridge and did spend some time there thinking that many years ago, perhaps relatives of ours had come that way.

It was strange being there and having the feelings that Mylia and I both shared, that in the past that our Liddell’s had also spent time someplace along the waters of the River Liddel.

Unfortunately we did not have the time to travel up the river to the castles that were built there years ago. Liddesdale is there and we could have spent hours there just seeing the castle and the surrounding area. We had to leave Scotland and the River Liddel to return to Newcastle for our train ride back to London.

We did stop at a few places along the way to explore sites of Harian’s Wall. What a lonely existence those soldiers had building it and defending it for years. Even now that area is not very populated, so you know how it must have been when it was in use.

We arrived back in London late evening as two very tired travelers. It was too much to attempt to do in one day, but we both agreed we were ever so happy to have found the River Liddel.

Subsequent to our travels, I did find that another of our Liddell et al Surname Cluster had searched and found the River. That person is Arnold Liddle, who is a resident of British Columbia Canada. He was there in 1990, however the picture he furnished me shows the river farther down-stream, where it connects with another river.

Arnold Liddle is the great grandson of John Liddle and Christina Ann Cartier. John was born in or near Glasgow, Scotland and was a weaver.

(Editor's Notes: The above text was written by William Loren Liddell and only slightly edited. The river he refers to as the Liddel also is shown on various maps at different times as the Liddell or the Liddle River. There does not seen to be a standardized spelling for the river's name. In Bleau's 1645 Atlas of Scotland, written in Latin, the Liddel/Liddell/Liddle River empties into the Nith River. Today, that same river is called the Esk River--only a small pronunciation shift, you see. The Esk empties into an extension of the Irish Sea. JWL)

End of File

top of page